SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y.  Southampton police responding to burst water pipes in a Hampton Bays home found the mummified body of the owner  dead for more than a year  sitting in a chair in front of a television.

The television was still on.

Vincenzo Riccardi, 70, appeared to have died of natural causes in his home, said Dr. Stuart Dawson, Suffolk County deputy chief medical examiner.

The medical examiner's office considered Riccardi's body mummified because the lack of humidity in his home preserved his features, morgue assistant Jeff Bacchus said.

"You could see his face. He still had hair on his head," Bacchus said. "I've never seen anyone dead that long."

Police and county sources said Riccardi, whose body was found Thursday, had not been heard from since December 2005. The medical examiners said they were baffled as to why the electricity would be on in the home all that time.

"He was in his house, sitting in his chair, as if watching television, and the television was, in fact, still on," Dawson said.

Riccardi lived alone; his wife had died years ago, Dawson said. Mail had piled up, but then delivery stopped.

Neighbors said Riccardi had diabetes and had become blind in his 50s. His house was up a long driveway and could not be seen from the street.

this story is not surprising. #1 something like this happened in Japan recently (last year or the one before). they found the body of a guy who had stayed in an abandoned partially constructed building. he had been there for years.

as sad as it is, it also shows how disconnected folks have become with their neighbours and families. sure, they thought he was gone, but why not check it out?

sad either way.

i wouldn't put it past the tv companies to find out what brand of tv that was and then keep touting it's staying power.

I could go and say something completely disrespectful, cruel and tasteless (to the deceased man), but I'll refrain myself even though it's extremly tempting

Honestly it sucks that no friends or family visited him in over a year. I'd hate to go that way...

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No disrespect intended with the TV programming guesses. I was called in by the City/State to conduct a funeral for an elderly person - no family members, no contacts, no friends, and no one at the funeral but the undertaker. Really sad that there are probably scores if not more of lost souls who take their last breath in obscurity.

I was called in by the City/State to conduct a funeral for an elderly person - no family members, no contacts, no friends, and no one at the funeral but the undertaker. Really sad that there are probably scores if not more of lost souls who take their last breath in obscurity.

So where were the power company, mortgage company and property tax assessor that they didn't notice the guy wasn't paying his bills?

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It's already been plausibly suggested that he was on an automatic bill-paying plan. That's one of the things that got me about this story. So much of our lives can be put on automatic pilot these days that a person could die or disappear, and still appear to be officially present and accounted for. Sounds like a potential plot for a novel or a screenplay!

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